Employee Referrals - how to increase them?

By Yves Lermusi | September 12, 2018

I had a good discussion yesterday about hiring referrals and how to increase them. But let’s start here: Why do we care about employee referrals?

It turns out, employee referrals ramp up faster and have better retention. Not surprising that these hires fit into your company culture faster and want to stay longer, considering they are already connected to your current employees! In addition to all this, employee referrals often come at a cheaper cost-per-hire.

Wait, we could save money and hire a better-fit employee? Tell me more!

On average, 25% of company hires are a result of employee referrals. The best rate I have personally seen is 50%. What is your hire rate resulting from employee referrals?

Here are some tips on how to increase those valuable referrals:

Always Reward. Reward employees for simply participating in your referral program (not just resulting in final hires). For example, if employees have referred 3 or more candidates, perhaps you enter them into a lottery for a prize or free vacation day.

Empower Employees. Make sure your team understands that by referring candidates from their network, they are more empowered to have a say in who becomes their future colleagues and how the company culture can grow and improve (rather than having those decisions imposed upon them).

Cash is not always king. Charitable donations or gifts can sometimes work better in motivating participation. You could even appeal to everyone’s competitive side. Try a company-wide contest for higher participation.

Leverage the references of your candidates. At Checkster, our software is more than a reference checking service, and is able to generate employee referrals. In fact, we have seen for best-in-class customers, the ability to generate up to 5 passive referrals per candidate! And they’re easier to collect than you think. Listen here for more.

About The Author

Yves Lermusi (aka Lermusiaux) is CEO & co-founder of Checkster.
Mr. Lermusi is a well known public speaker and a Career and Talent industry commentator. He is often quoted in the leading business media worldwide, including Fortune, The Wall Street Journal, Financial Times, Business Week, and Time Magazine. His articles and commentary are published regularly in online publications and business magazines. Mr. Lermusi was named one of the “100 Most Influential People in the Recruiting Industry” and his blog has been recognized as the best third party blog.

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